Limbs
by Tyger and Darkdracofire
Summary: Experimentation, n: that thing people tend to do when their bodies change, with or without warning. //Suffice to say, when he'd been quite literally shoved into this world, the last thing he'd expected was tentacles.//


For IJ's roads_diverged; theme #42, tentacles.

--

It's not as though this is the first time he's been hit with a world-effect. He'd been turned into a mouse in that stupid world with the volcano-badgers, into an echidna in the one with the never-ending pudding and absolutely no heartless whatsoever, into a cat that one time in a New York, never mind the fact that there were millions of perfectly normal people walking around in the open. (Even though it had been a little... less _routine_, to pounce on the tiny vermin-like heartless - half the time he didn't even _need_ his blades, and if it'd been anyone but Axel posted with him, they would have given him the whole spiel about how not using the keyblades was simply a waste of time, and what was he here for, anyway; it wasn't like he could have fun. Only it'd been Axel, who'd just given him a too-smug look, which would have looked a lot less out of place on his normal body, or even if he'd been a cat like Roxas, instead of a muscle-and-bone dog of large size and dubious origin. And then he'd made a comment about _cream_, of all things, which of course required Roxas to summon Oblivion anyway, the better to put him back in his place.)

The thing is, in his couple of months experience world-hopping, he's always, well. Had the same number of _limbs_. Sure, they might be aligned a little differently than his personal norm, but the basic construct was always more or less the same, give or take a tail. This, however... Well, suffice to say, when he'd been quite literally _shoved_ into this world, the last thing he'd expected was tentacles.

Given that Axel also seems to have come down with a case of too-many limbs, he concludes that it's probably the natural state of things, for this world, as... odd as it is, to his normal four-or-five limbed mindset. Not that he knows where this world _is_, or anything. Not ten minutes ago, he'd been _asleep_. Only then Demyx had grabbed him and dragged him off to see the Superior, and all he'd been able to catch was that he - and Axel, apparently - were being sent somewhere, and it was rather urgent, and then they'd been shoved into a portal before Axel could even make a quip about 'time' and 'Luxord'.

And now he has tentacles. And sure, the world _is_ in the last stages of falling into the dark around them, but time limit or no, there's no _way_ Roxas is moving until he figures out exactly how this new body works. It's not like the heartless attack them unless they attack first, after all, and there's no somebodies in sight. No other nobodies, either, which is kind of odd, but then again maybe it's not. The world is close enough that even a _breath_ of power opens a path, and survival is the primary instinct of one of their... kind. Un-kind. Whatever.

He's not, he realises, even sure how many new limbs he _has_. Which is incredibly odd. He can _sense_ them all, after all, feel them the same as any other appendage, but an exact number requires more mental effort than he would have thought probable. Of course, Axel keeps distracting him, which is far from helpful.

It's not the constant stream of observations and irrelevant babble; he'd learnt to tune that out whenever he needed to concentrate on something within the first week of their acquaintance. It's the fact that Axel, too, is figuring out what the hell these new limbs are. Only because it's Axel, he has to be obnoxious about it, and so is destroying things with them. Loudly. Throwing rocks, breaking branches - he's not _quite_ pissed off the heartless enough to attack just yet, but to Roxas' senses, hypersensitive from the rude awakening, the portal in, the sheer _darkness_ around them, it's. Distracting. Incredibly distracting. Of course, when he glares at the bastard, Axel just grins, and sends a tentacle after _him_.

Naturally, he grabs it - with one of his hands; he _knows_ how they work - and, just as naturally, that prompts Axel to send another after him. And a third, once both of his hands are tied up. And he has that look on his face, the ahahaha-I'm-gonna-fuck-with-your-hair one, and it's not that Roxas _minds_, as such, but damnit, it's the principle of the thing, so when the tentacle gets close enough, he _bites_ it. Ha. That'll show _him_.

Only he's not expecting it to make Axel _freeze_ like that, nor is he expecting the _noise_ Axel makes, shocked and questioning and whatever else. He's no good with even the mock-emotions the others pretend.

He lets go, fully expecting to have to move back through the darkness to duck away again, only Axel doesn't move. The tentacles grabbing his hands have gone manacle-tight, and the bitten limb's trembling slightly in mid-air, but Axel doesn't move at all, and that's... interesting.

He looks up at Axel - his eyes have gone very wide, and though he usually pretends he needs to, Roxas is pretty sure he's stopped breathing, too. And that's _very_ interesting.

After a long moment, though, it looks as though he's about to say something, and Roxas knows him well enough to know that it, whatever it is, will break whatever _this_ is, put things back to normal, and he finds he doesn't... that he's not finished trying to figure out what just happened.

Axel doesn't say anything, though, and it's not until he wonders what the hell this _warm_ thing is he realises he's looped one of his own tentacles around Axel's neck. It's not tight, not unfriendly, but the threat is quite clear. After a second, he realises it's not just a threat of crushing Axel's windpipe so he can't speak - it's that these things are _strong_; he could break Axel's neck if he wanted to. Easy as breathing, he could crush the Flurry of Dancing Flames out of existence... and he's not doing anything about it. Not ducking through the shadows, not calling up fire to burn him away, he hasn't even summoned his _weapons_. He's just staying very very still, not saying a word and _looking_ at him, eyes still too-wide and mouth slightly open and.... Roxas doesn't have words for this.

He doesn't have words for what he does next, either, or even a reason why, other than this whole thing is incredibly fascinating, and why not, anyway. Keeping his eyes on Axel's (there's something odd, about Axel even pretending to be shocked, and he's not sure he approves), he bites the still-outstretched tentacle again, slowly this time. It's what started this whole thing, after all, and - Axel's eyes roll back and half-close and he makes another noise, this one low in his throat, and _oh_, he can feel that, through his tentacle and right up his _spine_, and-

Naturally, this is the point when the heart of the world decides it's had enough, damnit, and collapses in on itself. Their first impulses as Nobodies take over, and by the time they're far enough away that there's no risk of them falling into the quicksand-like holes a collapsing world makes of the dark paths, they have legs again, and the moment - and quite likely, the forms - is lost, perhaps forever.

Axel is silent for a very long moment, but the grin he throws him is pretending gleeful and mocking, so Roxas gives him the same glare he had not so very long ago, and he might not have a tentacle around his neck this time, but no one had ever said VIII was dumb, either.


End file.
